I tell you, if an angel in paradise you were,
I'd go to his Allmightness and crave admission there.
And if he would not have me
And dared to cast me forth
I'd drag you down from heaven
And set you on the earth.

But now you are a devil and that is passing well,
For can I manage nothing else,
Then I can go to hell.
The Lord may keep his paradise,
May keep his angels too.
I only care for devils, when the devils are like you.

According to Edvard Grieg: Letters to Colleagues and Friends by Finn Benestad, Peer Gynt Press, 2000, footnote 9 on p. 21, this poem was written in English and Benzon did not wish it to be translated into Danish or Norwegian. In some catalogs of Grieg's music it is nevertheless given the Danish title "Til en hunndjevel".

Text Authorship:

• by Otto Benzon (1856 - 1927), "To a Devil" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907), "To a Devil", EG 154 (1900) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A un diable", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "À un démon", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 89

Je te le dis, si tu étais un ange au paradis,
j'irai au Tout-Puissant pour m'y faire admettre.
Et s'il ne voulait pas de moi
et osait me jeter dehors,
je te traînerais du ciel en bas
et t'installerais sur la terre.

Mais maintenant tu es un démon, et cela se passe bien,
car si je n'arrive à rien d'autre,
je pourrais aller en enfer.
Le Seigneur peut garder son paradis,
il peut aussi garder ses anges.
Je ne m'occupe des démons que lorsqu'ils sont comme toi.